The surreal desert

Meet the new ABC Open guest writer from Dimboola, Year 11 student Oscar Phipps. He is keen to cover the local social and political stories in his hometown.

Having started off his childhood in suburban Melbourne, Oscar moved to Dimboola at the age of 10. He describes it as “surreal” moving from a suburban area to a desert like landscape.

“It was a completely different place to the one I had come from”, he said.

Many kids might find this a challenging experience moving from the city to the country but Oscar’s first impressions were positive.

It was the people that struck a chord with him and sealed his experience.

“People are much nicer, more open. You can talk to people on the street. It’s not like the city where everyone is closed off’, he said.

It’s not just the people that Oscar is drawn to, it is also the sense of freedom offered by the huge open space.

Dimboola is located on the edge of the sandy expanse of the Little Desert National Park and has the flow of the Wimmera River running through the town. Add to that the big blue skies of the Wimmera and you have a vastness not found in suburban Australia.

With this comes promise.

Currently studying Year 11, VCAL Certificate ll in Electrotechnology Studies, Oscar is also interested in writing and has been ever since primary school.

It is the combination of researching and writing that interests him.

“It’s fun researching then putting it all together in a final product”, he explains.

But it was only in secondary school that he found his niche.

He discovered American writer, philosopher and political activist Noam Chomsky. This prolific author is the inspiration for Oscar’s interest in social and political issues and has inspired him to pen a number of political essays for school projects.